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Governors' Camp Game Report, Masai Mara, December
2011
Weather and grasslands
We have had lots of rain over the last month which has left a
stunning landscape with varying shades of green. The grass has grown all
over the Mara. The common grass here is Red Oat Grass (Themeda
Triandra) and in some low lying areas it is
almost four feet in height, there are also small pockets of Elephant grass
which is a good thatching grass and can reach heights of over 7 feet.
On the 20th we received 57 mm of rain. Total rainfall for
December was 151.5 mm. It has generally been quite wet with afternoon and
evening showers. Mid day temperatures were 28°C and early mornings around
23°C.
Early on in December the Mara
River rose to quite a
high level, receding again by late month.
Photo courtesy of Katie McLellan
General
game
Game viewing has been excellent despite the long grass and wet and
slippery conditions. There has been good lion activity with some different
males arriving on the scene in Bila Shaka and Musiara.
'Christmas day' was a bonus day of game sightings, in the afternoon
of this day the 'Big five' were seen before 6.00pm.
Good numbers of elephant
remain on the Musiara and Bila
Shaka grassland plains. As grass levels have improved
this has brought many elephant back, within these family units there quite
a few young calves. An average of over 100 Elephant can be seen at any one
time. Large bulls that are in Musth have
been moving back and forth sourcing females in oestrus and some of the
bulls have been seen sparing, it is awesome to see two large bulls squaring
off, their tremendous strength and weight mean that sometimes they inflict
bad injuries on the other. Musth is
a periodic condition in bull elephants, characterized occasionally by
highly aggressive behavior, accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones, noticeably on these large bulls there is a discharge called temporin which oozes out from their temporal glands,
during Musth this temporin
contains high levels of testosterone plasma and this can literally run down the cheeks. African Elephant
can stay in Musth for up to nearly three weeks to
a month or so.
Photo courtesy of Sharon Roles
The large herd of buffalo has been seen on Rhino Ridge and
also Bila Shaka. Buffalo like to move
about and reside in areas where there are course grasses. There are many
calves in this herd, some of which have fallen prey to Spotted Hyena and
lion.
Topi with
a few one month old calves can be found on Topi
plains, Paradise and Rhino ridge. Topi have a narrow muzzle so are bite selectors and when
they have access to enough green fodder, topi
usually don't have to drink. They drink every day or two when subsisting on
dry grass. With the good grass levels at present Topi can be seen in large numbers in certain areas.
Cokes Hartebeest with young that are six weeks old can be seen on
Rhino Ridge and Topi plains and good numbers of
them at Bila Shaka.
The Warburgia trees are fruiting now and
this has brought the Olive Baboons and some Blue Monkeys, Schalow's Turacos and many
green pigeons. Elephant also love these fruit and while good grazing is
available this will hold them back out, although a few individual elephant
have been foraging through the camps at night.
We have enjoyed good viewing of giraffe all over the riverine
woodlands and close to the camps. There are many calves amongst these loose
associated herds and these calves remain in crèches. There are also male
herds and these number up to 16 of varying ages.
The larger breeding males will travel great distances looking for oestrus
females.
Photo
courtesy of Patrick Reynolds
On Rhino ridge and topi plains many Bat
Eared Foxes
are seen close to their dens or out foraging, these little foxes also have
young pups. In these wet conditions many species of termites are continually
expanding their colonies and so this is a good time for these insectivorous
foxes to feed well. Termites with wings (also called swarmers
or alates) are reproductive's that leave the nest
to start new colonies. Alates lose or shed their wings soon after they swarm. Termites form a
major role in the diet of Bat Eared Foxes.
Crested cranes have been seen courting near the Marsh, this is quite an elaborate affair. One female
near the causeway is sitting on eggs.
There are a few common zebra
in pockets near topi plains and also Rhino
Ridge; with more of them in the conservation areas. Warthog and
piglets that are 3 months old now will still be seen in all areas where
there are open grassland plains, many of these piglets were heavily preyed
on in October and November when grass levels were low and lion, leopard and
hyena could see them from afar. Many sows that have piglets only have two
or three left. Lion will also readily dig out warthog from their bolt
holes. Impala and Olive Baboons can be seen within the camp woodlands and
also Bush Buck. Male Bushbucks are quite habitual and will secretly
emerge out into the open glades with the soft morning and evening light.
Many Lilac Breasted rollers can be seen on the roadsides and also in
the grassland verges, they seem to be feeing off the brown grasshoppers,
these are a truly striking bird and in good light make great photographic
subjects.
Reedbuck are also seen within the Musiara Marsh, reedbuck like coarse grasses and will be
found in low lying flood plains; during the dry months from August through
to October the reedbuck had to compromise their habitat, many succumbed to
predation from cheetah and leopard.
There have been many crocodiles on the banks of the Mara River basking and regulating their
body temperature. They are ectothermic, (or
"cold-blooded") this
refers to creatures that control body temperature through external means.
As a result, they are dependent on environmental heat sources and have
relatively low metabolic rates, all
reptiles have to regulate their body temperature from an outside source,
some of these crocodile on the Mara river will reach 16 feet and weigh in
excess of a 1,000 kgs, which is huge!
Photo courtesy of Katie McLellan
We have had lovely sightings of Black Rhino particularly on
Paradise Plains and Rhino Ridge.
There are some lovely butterflies within the camp
grounds particularly the swallow-tails; Mocker swallow tail (Papilio Dardanus), Green
banded swallow-tail (Papilio phorcas)
Noble swallow tail) Papilio Nobilis)
and Narrow green-banded swallowtail (P.Nireus)
Lion
Bila Shaka/ marsh pride
The Marsh pride can be seen anywhere from the Musiara
Marsh, Bila Shaka and
as far as Rhino ridge. On Christmas eve the four new Marsh males killed a large male Buffalo at Bila
Shaka and were still feasting on the remains on
Christmas day.
Photo
courtesy of Peggy Chodorow
One of the males was seen mating with Bibi
and the one with the damaged eye is slowly recovering and it is perhaps his
luck that he did not lose the sight of that eye.
The 5 cubs of the Marsh pride of which one of the cubs is much
younger (seven months old and the other four cubs are 10 months old) are
doing well and are being seen mostly on Rhino ridge.
The 4 large males related to 'Notch' are being seen near the Talek river and the double crossing area, 'Notch'
himself has been seen, he is looking his age though, they have been seen
feeding off warthog and topi. One of these males
was seen on the 26th at Bila Shaka.
On the 20th December on the plains to the east of Rhino
Ridge in area called Naibor soit
meaning white stones in Maa there was another
male lion, who in 2009 met up with 3 Marsh Females that took flight in the
takeover when Notch and his brother moved in 2004 and they since have
resided in the Naibor soit
area. This male lion looked very worse for wear and seemed to be suffering
from many injuries perhaps as a result of a scuffle with other lions.
On Christmas day at 7.30am near the Toyota site close to paradise
plains two young male lion from the Marsh Pride that were looking for
warthog jumped a hippo that was returning back to water and did not bring
it down but made a determined effort.
Photo
courtesy of Nick Kourides
On the west side of Rhino Ridge the 9 females of the Paradise Pride had killed a topi early that morning and were being badgered by 30 +
spotted hyena. The Hyena then dispersed quickly when an old male lion
suddenly arrived on the scene and chased the hyena off. This was Clawed the
old Marsh pride male but as he is still limping heavily and not very agile
the Hyena then re-grouped, turned the tables again, and chased him off, he
and the females dispersed and the hyenas finished off what was left of the topi.
On boxing day four females of the Marsh pride had killed a female defassa waterbuck near Lake Nakuru
within the Musiara Marsh. The Marsh pride also
has been feeding off the many warthog that are in the Bila
Shaka and Rhino Ridge grassland plains. On the 28th
two lionesses from the Marsh pride caught and killed a warthog and piglet
near Bila Shaka. There
is also some new exciting news to report that one of the females from the
Marsh pride has 4 new cubs that are around 5 weeks old.
Cheetah
A female Cheetah that is assumed pregnant has been seen near the
Double Crossing and also near Olkiombo and she has
been sitting on cars recently so she has been well photographed, she was
last seen on the 26th near Rhino Ridge.
The two males have been seen once only on the other side of the Talek
River and that was
early on in the month. Another female with an eight month old cub has been
seen near Olkiombo and she has been feeding of
Thompson Gazelles.
Leopard
Olive and her 12 month old cub have been seen
quite recently but her older male cub has not been seen often.
The large male Leopard has been seen in the river bed south of Bila Shaka looking towards
Rhino ridge and also at the Bila Shaka riverbed crossing.
Photo
courtesy of Sharon Roles
A female that is often seen near the croton thickets on the rocky
hill south of Paradise Plains near the Serena pump house has been seen more
frequently with some good scenes of her crossing the salt lick flats near
the Mara River. She has two young cubs and they
are difficult to see, although a glimpse of them was seen in the early
evening of the 19th.
Back in camp
Christmas eve
celebrations kicked off at Little Governors' Camp with the visit of a rhino
to the marsh right infront of camp.
Photo courtesy of George Murray
We hope to share the magic of our corner of the
Mara with you sometime soon.
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